No.  92 — Second  Series — 4,000 


m 


Indian  Rights  Association, 

995  Drexel  Building, 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  January  28,  1914. 


THE  “CITIZENSHIP  EXPEDITION.” 

A  recent  Washington  newspaper  despatch  announced  that  Senator  Penrose  had  intro¬ 
duced  a  resolution  calling  for  an  investigation  of  Indian  affairs,  in  accordance  with  a  sug¬ 
gestion  of  the  Rodman  Wanamaker  Indian  expedition.  The  resolution  proposes  that  the 
commission  of  seven,  to  be  appointed,  shall  act  in  conjunction  with  Dr.  J.  K.  Dixon,  the 
leader  of  the  Wanamaker  party,  and  it  also  “recites  the  accomplishments  of  the  expedition.” 

Senator  Penrose  and  those  for  whom  he  is  acting  have  evidently  not  kept  in  very  close 
touch  with  current  events;  for  they  do  not  seem  to  know  that  a  joint  Congressional  Com¬ 
mission,  composed  of  three  Senators  and  three  Representatives,  was  created  by  the  Act  of 
June  30,  1913,  for  the  same  purpose.  That  Commission,  of  which  Senator  J.  T.  Robinson 
is  chairman,  has  been,  and  is  now,  conducting  its  work,  as  directed  by  the  law,  with  a  view 
to  “recommending  such  changes  in  the  administration  of  Indian  affairs  as  would  promote 
the  betterment  of  the  service  and  the  well-being  of  Indians.  ”  It  is  therefore  hardly  likely 
that  the  Penrose  resolution  will  receive  favorable  action  by  the  Committee  on  Indian 
affairs.  It  has,  however,  been  the  means  of  giving  added  publicity  to  the  claims  of  Dr. 
Dixon  in  regard  to  the  alleged  “accomplishments”  of  the  “Citizenship  expedition.”  So 
long  as  the  Dixon  report  was  being  used  for  advertising  purposes,  its  absurd  and  extrava¬ 
gant  claims  of  “accurate  and  extensive”  information  could  be  regarded  as  humorous  and 
harmless;  but  when  its  author  seeks  to  have  Congress  give  the  document  serious  con¬ 
sideration,  it  is  in  order  to  analyze  its  statements. 

Mr.  Rodman  Wanamaker’s  desire  to  perpetuate  certain  noble  characteristics  of  the 
red  man,  and  to  arouse  a  stronger  public  sentiment  to  secure  just  treatment  for  him,  is  to 
be  commended.  The  expedition  sent  out  by  Mr.  Wanamaker  could  have  performed, 
under  proper  management,  a  service  of  real  value;  but  to  those  who  have  even  an  ordinary 
knowledge  of  Indian  affairs,  the  Dixon  report  of  “achievements”  is  very  unsatisfactory  on 
account  of  serious  inaccuracy  of  statement  and  apparent  ignorance  of  the  essential  truth  in 
many  cases.  It  is  regretable  that  a  philanthropist  of  such  high  ideals  as  Mr.  Wanamaker 
should  be  exploited  in  this  fashion  by  such  an  agent. 

During  the  past  summer  and  autumn  I  visited  fifteen  Indian  reservations  in  the  South¬ 
west;  our  Washington  Agent  visited  a  number  in  the  Northwest,  and  I  also  met  many  of 
the  Indian  Service  field-men,  in  the  East  and  West,  with  whom  I  talked  on  this  subject. 
From  every  point  the  testimony  was  the  same;  Dr.  Dixon  was  always  in  a  hurry,  and  his 


2 


stay  at  the  Agencies  was  usually  limited  to  a  few  hours.  The  Mescalero  reservation,  in 
New  Mexico,  for  instance,  is  a  tract  of  land  almost  the  size  of  Connecticut.  The  nearest 
railroad  point  is  Tularosa,  eighteen  miles  from  the  Agency.  The  Dixon  party  arrived 
there  one  morning,  went  to  the  Mescalero  Agency  by  automobile,  had  the  flag-raising 
ceremony  in  a  perfunctory  manner,  took  a  short  whirl  over  a  portion  of  the  reservation, 
and  left  the  same  evening  for  other  parts  of  the  country.  Such  methods  are  hardly  calcu¬ 
lated  to  enable  any  one,  no  matter  how  expert,  to  secure  “accurate  and  extensive”  first¬ 
hand  information  of  conditions,  or  to  gather  “full  details  of  all  phases  of  Indian  and  reserva¬ 
tion  life.”  It  must  be  a  great  satisfaction  to  the  Mescalero  Apache,  and  all  the  other 
tribes,  to  feel  “now  that  his  life  story,  both  primitive  and  present,  is  to  be  accurately  given 
to  the  country,  ”  by  such  a  “careful ”  authority.  From  the  reports  of  the  Western  people  I 
learn  that  this  was  a  typical  case.  I  wonder  if  Dr.  Dixon  ever  heard  of  the  thorough  work 
being  done  by  Edward  S.  Curtis  to  record,  by  pen  and  photograph,  the  history  of  all  the 
Indian  tribes?  Mr.  Curtis  is  spending  years  to  acquire  his  data,  but  Dr.  Dixon  would  have 
us  believe,  from  his  method,  that  only  a  few  hours  at  each  point  are  necessary  for  such  a 
task. 

To  illustrate  Dr.  Dixon’s  ignorance,  or  misrepresentation,  a  few  instances  are  cited: 

The  report,  in  referring  to  the  ceremonies  in  New  York  Harbor  on  February  22,  1913, 
says  that  “these  grizzled  warriors”  assembled  there  “never  owned  a  flag  and  knew  nothing 
about  the  flag.  ”  The  first  of  the  “  Rules  for  the  Indian  School  Service,  ”  in  force  for  years, 
provides  that  “There  shall  be  a  flag-staff  at  each  school,  and  in  suitable  weather  the  flag  of 
the  United  States  shall  be  hoisted  each  morning  and  taken  down  at  sunset.  ”  There  are  327 
Indian  schools,  and  it  is  the  custom  to  assemble  the  pupils  each  morning  and  evening  to 
salute  the  flag  as  it  is  being  raised  or  lowered.  The  Department  rule  that  I  have  quoted 
also  refers  to  Agencies.  I  have  never  been  on  a  reservation  where  I  did  not  see  the  American 
flag  flying.  The  one  case  that  Dr.  Dixon  refers  to — conveying  the  impression  that  it  was 
typical — on  the  Havasupai  reservation,  Arizona,  is  an  exception;  but  a  few  years  ago  there 
was  a  heavy  flood  in  that  canon  that  destroyed  nearly  all  the  government  property,  and 
ruined  the  agricultural  land  of  those  Indians. 

Referring  to  the  New  York  Harbor  ceremonies,  Dr.  Dixon  says:  “A  new  ideal  was 
imposed,  ”  namely,  that  of  citizenship.  This  “expert  evidence”  is  sadly  at  fault.  In  1879 
the  “new  ideal”  took  definite  shape,  and  the  Boston  Indian  Citizenship  Committee  was 
organized,  which,  in  conjunction  with  the  Indian  Rights  Association  and  the  late  Senator 
Dawes,  helped  to  secure  the  General  Allotment  Act  of  February  8,  1887.  Under  its  terms, 
when  an  Indian  received  an  individual  allotment  of  land,  he  became  a  citizen  of  the  United 
States.  If  Dr.  Dixon  had  taken  the  trouble  to  investigate  this  subject,  he  would  have 
found  that  there  are  over  185,000  Indians  who  are  citizens,  and  that  his  “new  ideal”  is  an 
old  story.  His  “expedition  of  citizenship”  is  thirty-five  years  behind  the  times. 

One  of  the  purposes  of  the  expedition  was  “to  secure  the  signature,  by  pen  and  thumb- 
mark,  of  every  Indian  tribe  to  the  Declaration  of  Allegiance.”  The  absurdity  of  this  is 
apparent  when  it  is  understood  that  any  treaty  or  agreement  made  by  the  Government 
with  the  Indians,  if  it  was  to  be  valid,  had  to  be  signed  by  a  three-fourths  majority  of  the 
male  adults  of  the  tribe  concerned.  Consequently,  the  few  signatures  secured  by  Dr. 
Dixon  of  individual  members  of  any  tribe  to  the  “Declaration  of  Allegiance”  are  abso¬ 
lutely  valueless. 


31  ’Yv  *1*  C~ 

3 

Dr.  Dixon  asserts  that,  as  a  result  of  his  expedition,  the  Indian  “realizes  now,  for  the 
first  time,  that  he  must  do  something  for  himself.’’  There  are  thousands  of  Indians  who 
realized  that  long  ago.  Before  the  “Citizenship  Expedition”  was  conceived,  the  Society 
of  American  Indians  was  organized,  in  Columbus,  Ohio,  October,  1911,  by  Indians  who  are 
working  to  advance  the  interests  of  Indians.  Its  active  membership  is  confined  exclusively 
to  those  of  Indian  blood,  and  contains  representatives  of  nearly  every  tribe. 

As  to  the  “enthusiasm”  of  the  red  man  for  the  expedition,  note  what  is  said  about  it 
in  the  Quarterly  Journal  of  the  Society  of  American  Indians,  the  editor  of  which  is  an 
Indian: 

“The  ‘Wanamaker  Expedition  of  Citizenship  to  the  Indian’  has  returned  to  its  Phila¬ 
delphia  store.  The  plan  was  for  a  certain  Mr.  Dixon  to  give  a  flag  to  every  reservation  in 
the  country,  and  pledge  the  Indian  to  loyalty.  This  was  an  assumption  that  the  Indians 
were  not  loyal.  Newspapers  said  that  the  Indian  had  never  seen  a  flag.  This  is  an  ab¬ 
surdity,  and  the  whole  expedition  was  a  flagrant  insult  to  the  United  States  authorities  and 
an  insult  to  the  Indian.  *  *  *  *  But  the  late  Mr.  Barnum’s  maxim  will  hold  good.” 

Regarding  the  recent  Navajo  “uprising,”  Dr.  Dixon,  in  a  widely  published  interview, 
found  fault  with  Superintendent  W.  T.  Shelton,  of  the  Shiprock  Agency,  New  Mexico,  for 
“interfering  with  some  of  their  most  sacred  customs.”  It  is  true  that  Mr.  Shelton  did 
interfere  with  a  “sacred  custom,”  just  as  the  United  States  Government  interfered  with  a 
“sacred  custom”  of  the  Mormons  some  years  ago.  It  should  be  noted  that  this  “sacred 
custom”  of  the  Navajos  was  polygamy,  by  which  the  old  men  took  very  young  girls  for 
plural  wives.  The  Indian  Bureau  has  been  endeavoring  to  stamp  out  this  “sacred  custom” 
not  only  among  the  Navajos,  but  in  all  the  other  tribes;  and  Supt.  Shelton  was  acting  in 
accordance  with  that  policy  when  he  interfered  with  the  Indian  law-breakers.  I  hardly 
believe  that  a  minister  of  the  Gospel  would  knowingly  favor  polygamy,  even  though  it  has 
been  a  “sacred  custom”  of  the  Indians,  just  as  it  was  in  patriarchal  times. 

In  another  newspaper  interview  Dr.  Dixon  is  reported  to  have  said  of  the  Jicarilla 
reservation,  New  Mexico,  that  “the  tribe  cannot  raise  cattle  because  the  vegetation  is 
insufficient.  ”  If  Dr.  Dixon  had  really  investigated  the  physical  condition  of  that  reserva¬ 
tion,  he  would  hardly  have  made  such  a  statement.  Raising  cattle  or  sheep  is  exactly 
what  the  Jicarilla  Indians  can  do,  for  they  have  good  summer  and  winter  ranges. 

The  following  excerpt  from  the  Chilocco,  Oklahoma,  Indian  School  Journal,  com¬ 
menting  on  a  visit  of  the  Expedition  to  one  of  the  points  in  that  State,  is  suggestive: 

“For  generations  effort  has  been  put  forth  by  those  in  the  Indian  field  to  induce  the 
Indians  to  put  away  from  them  many  habits  and  customs  that  have  always  served  as 
sufficient  barriers  to  progress,  and  to  accept  and  put  into  practice  the  best  features  of  our 
civilization.  In  fact,  there  could  not  be  conceived  any  other  right  purpose  in  laboring  with 
them.  In  the  Wanamaker  expeditions  the  taking  of  pictures  with  all  sorts  of  cameras 
seemed  the  principal  interest,  and  the  important  subjects  were  the  Indians  arrayed  in  owned 
and  borrowed  barbarian  finery.  Many  occupying  the  center  of  the  stage  were  original 
coffee-coolers  or  their  descendants,  usually  the  consistent  foes  of  progress,  while  the  pro¬ 
gressing  Indian  in  his  inconspicuous  citizen’s  dress  formed  the  fringe  of  the  crowd  unnoticed. 
They  were  not  ‘Chiefs’  because  they  had  outgrown  the  fiction  of  chieftainship,  but  merely 
bread-winners,  and  therefore  poor  subjects  for  a  spectacular  exhibit.  In  this  particular  the 
teaching  of  the  expedition  was  wrong  and  did  not  leave  a  good  taste  in  the  mouths  of  those 
who  work.” 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS  —  URBANA 


The  Rev.  Edward  Ashley,  D.D.,  for  many  years  a  missionary  on  the  Cheyenne  River 
reservation,  South  Dakota,  reprints  the  foregoing  article  in  “Anpao,  ”  a  paper  published  in  j 
the  Sioux  language,  with  this  additional  criticism: 

“The  above  item  is  true  also  of  the  action  of  Dr.  Dixon  on  some  of  the  Sioux  reserva-  j 
tions.  The  writer  witnessed  the  flag-raising  on  one  of  the  Sioux  reserves,  and  the  progressive  | 
Indians,  though  present,  were  ignored  and  only  those  in  warpaint  and  feathers  were  recog-  | 
nized  and  given  the  impression  that  they  were  ‘  it.’  The  addresses  of  President  Wilson  and  J 
Secretary  Lane  were  ground  off  without  any  interpretation.  In  order  that  the  Sioux  i 
nation  may  know  what  they  said,  we  have  translated  the  same,  which  may  be  found  on  -j 
another  page.” 

After  making  such  a  perfunctory  and  superficial  “investigation,”  Dr.  Dixon  has  the  | 
effrontery  to  assert  that  “for  the  first  time  the  nation  may  have  the  full,  unvarnished  truth, 
at  first  hand,  from  a  neutral  authority.”# 

Let  the  reader  judge  whether  or  not  the  data  presented  by  Dr.  Dixon  is  such  as  to 
inspire  confidence  as  to  its  value,  historically  or  ethnologically. 

Dr.  Dixon  says  that  “Indian  superintendents  have  declared  that  the  Expedition  has 
tremendously  forwarded  their  work.”  Those  whom  I  saw  on  my  trip,  for  the  most  part, 
regarded  the  affair  as  a  huge  joke.  However,  should  the  Senate  Indian  Committee  decide 
to  consider  the  Penrose  resolution,  it  would  be  well  to  call  on  the  Indian  superintendents 
for  a  frank  expression  as  to  the  value  of  the  expedition.  Inspector  James  McLaughlin  was 
detailed  by  the  Department  to  accompany  the  Dixon  party.  He  should  also  be  called  upon 
for  a  report. 

M.  K.  Sniffen, 

Secretary  Indian  Rights  Association. 


